Maintaining a Theme - 19.5.17
One thing that I am known for is my colour-organised Instagram feed. (@lydia.rich) I am often asked, "How do you make everything in your feed match?" Well, in this post, I'll explain how I am able to maintain a theme that flows from not only one colour to another, but each post to the others.
The first step is to determine which colour or filter will be the easiest for you to continuously use and shoot. Depending on where you live and the kinds of photos you take, this could mean that a certain colour is more prevalent in your surroundings, or that a certain filter tends to work best for your photos.
If you want to assemble a theme based on a certain filter, all you have to do is make sure that each of your photos is being edited through the same process with the same effects applied to each.
If you want to assemble a theme based on a certain colour, you must keep this theme in mind when shooting. For me, the colour of my theme typically depends on the season, as I predominantly shoot outside. During the summer, my theme is typically blue, yellow during autumn, white during winter, and green during spring.
The key to getting a balanced, flowing feed is having a separate account where you predetermine what your feed is going to look like. This account can either be public for the opinion of friends, or private as to avoid spoiling the photos you are planning to post. This both allows you to easily see if a photo matches your feed before actually posting it, and to establish a queue of photos to post in the days to come.
If you want to change your theme, don't just post a photo that is completely different from the one before it. Make sure that the colours or filters slowly transition into another, such as from blue to green or black and white to colour. Shoot or edit so that there is a larger piece of the new theme colour in each colour you post. I achieved this when switching themes by taking horizon pictures where the ground is green and the sky is blue. This allowed me to eventually post photos that are completely instead of partially blue.
My final tip for keeping an organised and coordinated colour theme is to pay attention to how you edit your photos. Similarly to how you'd watch your editing habits with a filtered theme, you must make sure that the way you are editing your photos doesn't make the tone or temperature of the colour contrast with your other photos.
Organising and curating a theme is much like putting a puzzle together; you must observe and make sure it fits in place with the surrounding pieces. Sure, it's a little more work than just posting your desired photo; but not only is it aesthetically pleasing, it is also rewarding to see all of your work form a body of art that can be shared with the world.